ukintheus
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2009
Welcome aboard on our very first adventure to Alaska! We have wanted to do an Alaskan cruise for what seems like forever, and the stars finally aligned for us and the planning began. Here is a goofy photo of the two of us that sums up this cruise. We had so much fun!!
This cruise started as an inaugural Wish sailing in July 2022 that ultimately was cancelled by DCL as the Wish sailings were pushed. I was torn between being disappointed and relieved as a) the Wish sailings were outrageously priced and b) my Mum’s health wasn’t great during that timeframe. But the real bonus was that we got 50% off a future cruise by leaving our deposit along with the placeholder, and it was a fairly easy decision to maximize that 50% off by using it for the pricey Alaska itineraries. We struggled with deciding between a summer sailing (warmer) and September knowing that it would be chilly for us as we are from south Texas, but ultimately the savings for September and the fact there was an 8 night cruise stopping in Sitka were the deciding factors and we pulled the plug on this last sailing of the season in March of 2023.
And so we patiently waited for September to roll around, especially as Texas had record heat for the entire summer. Those cooler Alaska temperatures were calling us all summer long as we hit triple digits for almost 2 consecutive months!
Our itinerary and excursions as planned:
Saturday, September 9th – Travel to Vancouver
Sunday, September 10th – Vancouver
Monday, September 11th – Embarkation
Tuesday, September 12th – At Sea
Wednesday, September 13th – Glacier Day: Excursion booked: Glacier Explorer $299 pp (DCL only)
Thursday, September 14th – Skagway: Glacier Discovery Helicopter Tour (Alaska Shore Tours) $379 pp + tax $795.90 ($479 pp with DCL $958 – savings of $162.10)
Friday, September 15th – Juneau: Taku Glacier Lodge Feast & 5-Glacier Discovery Seaplane (Alaska Shore Tours) $430 pp + tax $903.00 ($499 pp with DCL $998 – savings $95)
Saturday, September 16th – Sitka
Sunday, September 17th – Ketchikan
Monday, September 18th – At Sea
Tuesday, September 19th – Debarkation travel to Houston
To finish up on boring pre-trip stuff, I have to mention the clothes that I spent hours researching on the internet before our adventures - you can see most of them in the photo above. As I’ve said (plenty of times before ) we live in south Texas, we don’t do cold and we don’t spend much time in the rain, therefore our existing wardrobe needed to be expanded for this trip for sure. Here’s what I ended up buying us both and the resulting useful/waste of space and/or money. We did both have knitted beanies already and mine was hand knitted by my Mum so it was extra-special.
Columbia Bugaboo 3 in 1 jackets: The bomb – we both loved them. The fleece layer was nice to be able to separate and wear individually and the outer shell was waterproof and we needed it a couple of days.
Vessi waterproof shoes: Loved them – mine fit tighter than Scott’s and I need a shoe horn to get them on but we both found them comfortable enough to do a lot of walking and in the rain our feet never got wet.
Gloves: Scott’s were better than mine as mine where chenille and started to fall apart from all the pulling off and on I was doing in order to use my phone. Waterproof/resistant and able to use a cell phone with them on would have been better.
Waterproof cases for phones: Complete waste of money – we never used them.
Water resistant backpack: Lightweight and easy to pack when not in use. A waterproof one would probably have been better in some ways, but the ability to fold this one up to pack it outweighed that. It dried really quickly once we were back on the ship.
Inexpensive thermal leggings for me: Loved them – I wish I had taken another pair at least – I basically lived in them.
Quick-dry pants for both of us: Used them almost every day as they also acted as a windbreak in addition to keeping the rain off the pants we wore underneath.
OK, boring stuff is all done....to be continued with interesting stuff. LOL
This cruise started as an inaugural Wish sailing in July 2022 that ultimately was cancelled by DCL as the Wish sailings were pushed. I was torn between being disappointed and relieved as a) the Wish sailings were outrageously priced and b) my Mum’s health wasn’t great during that timeframe. But the real bonus was that we got 50% off a future cruise by leaving our deposit along with the placeholder, and it was a fairly easy decision to maximize that 50% off by using it for the pricey Alaska itineraries. We struggled with deciding between a summer sailing (warmer) and September knowing that it would be chilly for us as we are from south Texas, but ultimately the savings for September and the fact there was an 8 night cruise stopping in Sitka were the deciding factors and we pulled the plug on this last sailing of the season in March of 2023.
And so we patiently waited for September to roll around, especially as Texas had record heat for the entire summer. Those cooler Alaska temperatures were calling us all summer long as we hit triple digits for almost 2 consecutive months!
Our itinerary and excursions as planned:
Saturday, September 9th – Travel to Vancouver
Sunday, September 10th – Vancouver
Monday, September 11th – Embarkation
Tuesday, September 12th – At Sea
Wednesday, September 13th – Glacier Day: Excursion booked: Glacier Explorer $299 pp (DCL only)
Thursday, September 14th – Skagway: Glacier Discovery Helicopter Tour (Alaska Shore Tours) $379 pp + tax $795.90 ($479 pp with DCL $958 – savings of $162.10)
Friday, September 15th – Juneau: Taku Glacier Lodge Feast & 5-Glacier Discovery Seaplane (Alaska Shore Tours) $430 pp + tax $903.00 ($499 pp with DCL $998 – savings $95)
Saturday, September 16th – Sitka
Sunday, September 17th – Ketchikan
Monday, September 18th – At Sea
Tuesday, September 19th – Debarkation travel to Houston
To finish up on boring pre-trip stuff, I have to mention the clothes that I spent hours researching on the internet before our adventures - you can see most of them in the photo above. As I’ve said (plenty of times before ) we live in south Texas, we don’t do cold and we don’t spend much time in the rain, therefore our existing wardrobe needed to be expanded for this trip for sure. Here’s what I ended up buying us both and the resulting useful/waste of space and/or money. We did both have knitted beanies already and mine was hand knitted by my Mum so it was extra-special.
Columbia Bugaboo 3 in 1 jackets: The bomb – we both loved them. The fleece layer was nice to be able to separate and wear individually and the outer shell was waterproof and we needed it a couple of days.
Vessi waterproof shoes: Loved them – mine fit tighter than Scott’s and I need a shoe horn to get them on but we both found them comfortable enough to do a lot of walking and in the rain our feet never got wet.
Gloves: Scott’s were better than mine as mine where chenille and started to fall apart from all the pulling off and on I was doing in order to use my phone. Waterproof/resistant and able to use a cell phone with them on would have been better.
Waterproof cases for phones: Complete waste of money – we never used them.
Water resistant backpack: Lightweight and easy to pack when not in use. A waterproof one would probably have been better in some ways, but the ability to fold this one up to pack it outweighed that. It dried really quickly once we were back on the ship.
Inexpensive thermal leggings for me: Loved them – I wish I had taken another pair at least – I basically lived in them.
Quick-dry pants for both of us: Used them almost every day as they also acted as a windbreak in addition to keeping the rain off the pants we wore underneath.
OK, boring stuff is all done....to be continued with interesting stuff. LOL